Herzog by Saul Bellow
"Herzog," a novel by Saul Bellow, follows the life of Moses Herzog, a troubled intellectual navigating personal crises in New York City. Throughout the story, Herzog copes with his tumultuous life by writing letters—both real and imagined—to a range of figures, including historical figures like President Eisenhower and philosophers such as Nietzsche, as well as to his deceased mother and his estranged wife. This letter-writing serves as both a form of self-reflection and a means to grapple with his emotional turmoil, particularly regarding his relationships and his struggle for custody of his daughter, June.
The narrative unfolds as Herzog embarks on a journey that takes him from the bustling streets of New York to Martha's Vineyard and back, grappling with familial issues, romantic entanglements, and a sense of dislocation. Notably, Herzog experiences pivotal moments of realization, such as an encounter at his former home that leads him to reconsider his violent impulses. Through his experiences, the novel delves into themes of love, betrayal, and the quest for identity against the backdrop of a changing world.
Ultimately, "Herzog" blends introspective exploration with social commentary, capturing the complexities of modern life and the inner struggles of a man seeking connection and understanding. The novel is recognized for its rich character development and philosophical depth, inviting readers to reflect on the nature of human relationships and the weight of personal history.
Herzog by Saul Bellow
First published: 1964
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Psychological realism
Time of plot: 1960s
Locale: New York City; Chicago; Ludeyville and the Berkshires, Massachusetts
Principal Characters
Moses Elkanah Herzog , the protagonistMadeleine Pontritter Herzog , his former wifeJune , Herzog and Madeleine’s daughterValentine Gersbach , Herzog’s best friend and Madeleine’s loverRamona Donsell , Herzog’s girlfriendWilliam Herzog , Herzog’s brotherLucas Asphalter , Herzog’s friend, a zoologist
The Story
Herzog is going through a difficult time. In June, while living in New York City, he spends most of his time writing letters. Sometimes he writes them on paper, sometimes only in his mind. He writes to people he knows, people he has never met, and people who died long before he was born. He writes to Dwight David Eisenhower, thirty-fourth president of the United States; Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, who died in 1900; his dead mother; some of his intellectual rivals; and even God. In the letters, he argues about intellectual things the people said or wrote. Sometimes he argues about things he himself said or wrote, or failed to say or write.
When Herzog’s girlfriend, Ramona, tells him he should rest at her place on the shore, he instead leaves New York by train to visit a friend on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. While traveling, he continues writing letters. At Martha’s Vineyard, he goes to the room his hosts have prepared for him. Then, leaving a letter explaining his actions, he immediately sneaks out of the house and returns by air to New York. Back in his apartment, he starts writing letters again.
During most of the next day, he writes letters. He goes to dinner at Ramona’s apartment, where he spends the night. The next morning, he calls his lawyer, Harvey Simkin, to discuss the possibility of getting custody of his daughter, June; he hears that Madeleine, his former wife, and Valentine Gersbach, her lover, locked June in a car when they wanted to talk. Simkin has to go to court that morning but agrees to leave a message at the courthouse for Herzog. While waiting for Simkin’s message, Herzog attends several trials, including one involving an unmarried couple accused of beating the woman’s son to death.
Herzog leaves the courtroom and later that day flies to Chicago. There, he goes to his father’s old house, now inhabited by his aging stepmother, and gets a pistol his father owned. It has two bullets in it. Herzog intends to use one on Madeleine and the other on Gersbach. By now it is dark. He goes to the house where he, Madeleine, and June used to live. Through the kitchen window, he sees Madeleine doing the dishes. Walking around the house, he looks through the bathroom window and sees Gersbach giving June a bath. Gersbach bathes June with obvious love, and June enjoys being bathed. The sight makes Herzog realize that he cannot kill anyone.
Herzog drives to the house of Phoebe and Valentine Gersbach. Phoebe will not admit that Gersbach and Madeleine are having an affair, and Herzog is unsuccessful when he asks her to help him get custody of June. He leaves and spends the night with his old friend Lucas Asphalter, who has recently been in the newspapers for giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to his tubercular pet monkey. The monkey died anyway. Asphalter arranges for Herzog to see June the next day.
The next afternoon, he is driving with June in his rented car when a truck collides with them. June is not hurt, but Herzog is knocked unconscious. The policemen who investigate recognize that Herzog was not at fault in the accident, but they arrest him for possessing a loaded revolver. He and June are taken to the police station. When Madeleine comes to get June, she makes it clear that she hates Herzog.
Herzog’s brother, William, pays his bail and agrees to visit Herzog’s house in Ludeyville, Massachusetts. Herzog used money he inherited from his father to buy the house as a home for Madeleine, who at that time wanted to live in the country. Herzog spent his entire inheritance buying the house and improving it. He loved living there and working on it, but when Madeleine tired of the country, they moved to Chicago. The house has been deserted a long time.
Herzog goes from Chicago to “his country place.” Mice run through the house, and birds roost in the rooms. Lovers use it as a meeting place. Nevertheless, Herzog feels “joy” and peace in Ludeyville for the first time in a long time. There, he begins “his final week of letters.”
When William comes to the house, he sees that it is well built and beautifully situated. He tells his brother that he can probably sell it as a summer place but that Herzog will never get back the money he put into it because it is not close enough to the usual tourist haunts.
William drives Herzog into town, where Herzog arranges to have the electricity turned on and to have a woman come out to clean the house. Herzog learns that Ramona, who is visiting friends in Barrington, Massachusetts, a few minutes’ drive away, has been trying to telephone him. Herzog calls her and has William drive him to Barrington, where he invites Ramona to dinner at his house that evening. She accepts, and William drives Herzog back to Ludeyville. Herzog picks up the cleaning woman, who starts work on the kitchen. He decides to stop writing letters. He also decides to stay in Ludeyville for a while and to bring Marco, his son by his first wife, there for a visit after Marco’s summer camp ends.
Throughout these experiences, Herzog recalls events from his childhood, including his father’s repeated failures, especially at bootlegging during the time the family lived in Montreal; the family’s suffering in Canada and, later, in Chicago; his failed first marriage; his terrible marriage to Madeleine and the way in which she and Gersbach, whom Herzog considered his best friend, fooled him entirely; and his love for his children and his two brothers and one sister. He especially thinks about his relationship with Madeleine and wonders why she hates him so much.
Bibliography
Atlas, James. Bellow: A Biography. New York: Random, 2000. Print.
Bach, Gerhard, ed. The Critical Response to Saul Bellow. Westport: Greenwood, 1995. Print.
Chavkin, Allan, ed. Critical Insights: Saul Bellow. Pasadena: Salem, 2011. Print.
Clayton, John Jacob. Saul Bellow: In Defense of Man. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1968. Print.
Cohen, Sarah Blacher. Saul Bellow’s Enigmatic Laughter. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1974. Print.
Cronin, Gloria L. A Room of His Own: In Search of the Feminine in the Novels of Saul Bellow. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2001. Print.
Dutton, Robert R. Saul Bellow. Rev. ed. Boston: Twayne, 1982. Print.
Pifer, Ellen. Saul Bellow Against the Grain. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1990. Print.
Quayum, M. A. Saul Bellow and American Transcendentalism. New York: Lang, 2004. Print.
Singh, Sukhbir. “Saul Bellow and His Editors: The Case of Herzog.” ANQ 21.3 (2008): 51–59. Print.
Wilson, Jonathan.“Herzog”: The Limits of Ideas. Boston: Twayne, 1990. Print.
Wilson, Jonathan. On Bellow’s Planet: Readings from the Dark Side. Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1985. Print.
Wisner, Geoff. “Saul Bellow: Letters.” Christian Science Monitor. Christian Science Monitor, 9 Nov. 2010. Web. 4 June 2013.